Milk of the Sweetened Condensed Kind
by Alcandre
Summary: First part of the Holiday Series. Emma has never had a real Thanksgiving. Boy, is she in for a surprise. AU


Here's a special treat for you guys! I promise the next part of "Trust Me" will be up this weekend but I really wanted to get this up before Thanksgiving. I'm considering a holiday series and this would be the first part. But we'll see how the response is for this one.

Let's pretend that Emma and Snow didn't get sucked down a portal. So, that makes this story AU, all the way. I had to include Regina as well because, well…next to Emma, she's my fave.

Also, as always, thank you to Laura. Seriously, guys, if it weren't for her these stories would either not get posted or would be a nasty mess of non-flowy sentences (since flowy is now a word).

I don't own "Once Upon a Time".

* * *

She dreamed of a castle. One that you used to see in children's books about dragons and wizards and kings. The castle was bathed in moonlight and the stars seemed to be winking at her. It was cool, like it was late fall in this fairy tale world, and there was a woman. She had dark hair and was dressed regally, like a queen or something. And right as this woman was about to turn around so she could see her face, something shook her.

"Emma."

She grumbled something and turned over, not wanting to leave her dreamland.

"Emma."

The whisper was insistent and Emma knew it wasn't going to stop at any point. _May as well face the music_, she thought as she slowly opened her green eyes.

Her mother's face loomed in front of her, scaring Emma out of her wits.

"Jesus Christ!" she said harshly, pushing her body further into the mattress, as if to get away from her mom.

"Oh, good, you're awake," Snow White said with a nervous grin.

"Uh, yeah, I'm awake," Emma muttered, still pressed against the mattress since her mother hadn't moved back at all. "You woke me up."

Snow's grinned faltered but was quickly pasted back on. "Well, since you're up…"

Emma gently pushed Snow back and propped her back up on her headboard, running a hand through her hair. "What do you want me to do?"

"I need sweetened condensed milk."

Emma's head shot up. "What?"

"Sweetened-condensed milk."

"What the hell for?"

Snow frowned a little at the curse word that came out of her daughter's mouth but answered the question anyway. "I need it for the 8 layer chocolate cake."

And that's when it hit Emma. It was Thanksgiving. And some smart person (probably her) came up with the idea to have family and friends over to their apartment for the feast of the year. She, Snow, and James would be there (obviously), Henry (again, kind of obvious), with Henry came Regina (which Snow and James frowned at but understood that Henry would want his mother there), Granny and Red (duh), and of course, all seven of the dwarves. And Snow had volunteered to cook the majority of the meal. Granny and Red were coming over at about 9 am to help finish up but Snow had wanted to start the night before. And Emma had tried to help. She really had. But after the disaster with the deviled eggs, her mother shooed her out of the kitchen, stating that her father needed help with setting the table.

That had been a lie. James was done with the table and was sitting on the sofa, watching TV. He took one look at his daughter's face, handed her a beer, and patted the cushion next to him.

"Just stay out of her way," he said with a grin. "You stay sane and she stays happy."

"How do you know?" Emma asked after she took a sip of her beer. "You haven't had a Thanksgiving with her yet."

"No, but we had a few feasts back home." James glanced over his shoulder, as if making sure Snow wasn't behind him, and then placed his feet up on the coffee table. "She was a bear the week before each feast, even if we had plenty of cooks."

Before Emma could open her mouth to respond, Snow's voice was heard from the kitchen. "Feet off the table, James. And stop talking about me."

But that brings us back to the present. Where Snow was still hovering over Emma, her face pleading with her daughter for her help.

Emma sighed. "Fine, I'll get your milk." She sat up, her hair ruffled from sleep and her eyes still had a slightly dazed look in them.

"Sweetened-condensed milk," Snow corrected.

Emma rolled her eyes and nodded. "Right, milk of the sweetened-condensed category." She flung her covers back. "What time is it?"

"Uh…"

Something about her mother's voice made Emma whip her head around to stare at her. "Mom…what time is it?"

"It's not too early." There was that tone again. Something was off. Snow was acting guilty.

"Moooom…"

Snow sighed, as if she were the child and Emma was the mother in the relationship. Granted, their relationship was a little weird, since Emma and her mother looked the same age.

"Fine. It's 6 o'clock."

"6 o'clock? As in a.m. As in the morning?" Emma asked in a high pitched voice.

"Uh…"

Emma grunted as she fell back onto her pillow. "Mom, nothing opens until 8 a.m. And I doubt anything will even be open today!"

"No, no, something will." Snow sat on the bed next to Emma. "I asked. Ariel said her shop "Human Stuff" will be opening at 8!"

"Well, good," Emma said, the sarcasm in her voice fairly dripping of her words. "That gives me two hours to get there. Great! I'll barely make it."

"Emma." Snow was practically begging now, her big eyes suddenly resembling a puppy's.

"Ugh, fine," Emma grunted as she got out of the bed, maneuvering around her mother. "I'll get dressed and eat some breakfast. I'll get your milk."

"Sweetened-"

"Condensed milk, yeah, yeah," Emma finished for her mom as she made her way to the bathroom. What a wonderful start to Thanksgiving. Getting up at the ass crack of dawn…

Emma was pushed out the door at 7:30. She tried to argue with her mother that it didn't take her thirty minutes to get to "Human Stuff" but her mother wouldn't hear it. So, somehow between mixing the dressing and mashing the potatoes she managed to push her daughter out of the door with a quick kiss on the cheek.

Emma was baffled and wondered if that just came naturally to mothers but then she considered that she, herself, was a mother and she sure as hell couldn't do that. So, she shrugged if off as a princess thing.

It wasn't until later that same day that she realized that, technically, she was a princess as well.

So, since she was banished from the apartment she and her parents shared (she really needed her own place) she decided to walk to the store. It wasn't that far and it felt wonderful outside. It was a perfect Thanksgiving Day.

And that thought saddened her. She had never really had a Thanksgiving. Sure, her foster families would have a dinner on Thanksgiving. It would range in various sizes depending on how much the family she was staying with when Thanksgiving fell went out for the holiday. But she never felt thankful for anything she had. There were some Thanksgivings that she actually wished she had never been born.

She would often stand to the side during the celebration, feeling out of place and sad. She was never with her family. At that point in her life, she thought her family had abandoned her, given her up. She could just imagine her real family gathering around a table full of wonderful food without her - laughing, joking, eating, doing family things.

One year, as she sat at the kids' table with her foster brother and foster cousins, Jerry (her foster-brother) looked over at her and said around a mouthful of turkey, "Why are you here with us today? Don't you got your own family to go to?"

He was a kid. He probably didn't know any better (of course, now she knew he was just a little shit and that was that). But it had stung. She had left the table and her full plate and ran outside, away from the laughter and playful shouting. She had spent most of the night alone, outside in the frigid late Fall air, looking at the stars and wishing as hard as she could for a family that loved her.

And that wish came true. Years later that wish seemed to magically come true. Okay, it was magically but that was completely beside the point.

So, she was bundled up and walking toward the only shop that was going to be open on Thanksgiving. And she couldn't be happier.

She had almost made it to "Human Stuff". And her list had grown. Her mother had called her three times during her trek to the store.

"I forgot to tell you, I need some crackers! I've got to crumble them up to put on the casserole."

And again…

"One more thing! I need some toothpicks! The layers on the cake will slide all over the place if I don't put toothpicks in it!"

And again…

"Pick up some extra napkins, will you? Dopey should have been named Sloppy with the way he eats sometime."

"Mom, I swear," Emma finally said. "If you call me one more time to tell me to pick up one more thing, I will scream. Are you sure that's all you need?"

She heard Snow huff through the phone and grinned. "That's all I need," Snow said. "And stop grinning like that!"

"What? I'm not grinning!" Emma protested with the very same grin she claimed she was not giving.

"And don't lie to me!" Snow huffed again.

"Okay, I won't. Bye, Mom," Emma stated.

"Bye."

"I love you."

There was a brief pause before Snow answered back. The smile very clear in her voice. "I love you, too."

Emma hung up, her grin getting bigger. Her mother loved her! She had a mother! And a father!

If anyone had been on the street that morning, they would have thought their savior was slightly nuts. The grin on her face had a crazed quality to it.

But Emma was in her own little world, her only focus was getting to the store and back home with her family. In fact, she was so focused she didn't even register the ringtone that came from her phone before she answered it, thinking it was her mother again. If she had been paying attention, the Darth Vader theme would have told her who was calling her. And it wasn't her mother.

"What did you forget now?" She asked, the grin still in place.

"I'm not one to forget things, Ms. Swan."

The mayor's distinct voice cut through Emma's cloud of happiness and changed her mood from elated to wary.

"Regina," Emma stated. "To what do I owe this fine pleasure?"

"I'm not usually one to call when I am planning on seeing someone in a few hours but Henry pointed something out to me that I wanted to run by you."

"You want _my _opinion?" Emma asked, the shock showing clearly in her voice.

"_Henry_ wants your opinion," Regina said sharply. "I am merely humoring my…_our_ son since it is a day for families."

Emma's breath hitched just slightly at the acknowledgment Regina gave her regarding Henry. "What do you need?"

"Henry insists that I shouldn't make my famous apple pie. He says that it would be in "bad form" for me to present that to your mother today."

Emma had to slap a hand over her mouth to keep the laughter from bubbling out. Regina continued.

"He said I should make my famous but not as famous pumpkin pie."

"Tell her not to take apple pie, Emma!" Henry's voice came from the background, laughter clearly overriding the pretend horror.

"Henry!" Regina said sharply. "I am on the phone."

"I know!" Henry said, teasingly. "With Emma. And I know she'll be on my side about this!"

Emma didn't know this but on the other end of the line, Regina was gobsmacked (not that she would ever use such a term to describe herself). Her son was _smirking _at her! Smirking! Just like that insufferable Emma Swan. Curses!

"I think I have to agree with Henry, Regina."

"What?" The word seemed choked on, like Regina didn't want to say it. "Are you serious?"

"She's agreeing with me, isn't she?" Henry said with a triumphant grin. "Yes! I knew it!"

"_Henry!_" Regina hissed, which quickly silenced the boy but the smirk stayed.

Emma was actually giving that same smirk across town. "Think about it, Regina. You poisoned my mother with an apple. Granted you have definitely changed for the good since then but an apple pie may bring up some very unpleasant memories for all involved."

Silence.

"Regina?"

"You're right." Again with the choked quality of the words.

And again with the smirk on the blonde's face.

"So, pumpkin pie it is, then?" Emma said cheerfully.

"Pumpkin pie it is," Regina repeated. "I shall see you later…Emma." Again a slight moment of silence. "And thank you."

Emma's moment to be gobsmacked came and went with her just barely able to get a "you're welcome" out before Regina hung up.

"Weird," Emma muttered as she entered "Human Stuff".

She made it back home right before Granny and Ruby showed up. She almost bought a few cases of beer but stopped herself when she remembered that Leroy was trying to cut back on his alcoholic beverage intake.

The craziness began when Ruby burst through the door with Granny right on her heels, both with arms full of supplies that would magically (not really but it seemed that way to Emma) become a feast to end all feasts.

The dwarves arrived a little after 11, all of them together and all of them grinning. Leroy had a bouquet of flowers that he gave to Snow, saying it was for the table. She grinned and ordered Emma to put it in a vase and set it on the table, right in the middle.

Not long after that, Regina and Henry showed up, bearing a delicious smelling pumpkin pie. Snow graciously took the pie from Regina, both of them sharing tentative smiles and Regina followed her into the kitchen (which had been deemed the women's spot minus Emma because she seemed to cause a disaster whenever she set foot in it). Henry plowed through the group milling in the living area and changed the channel from football to the last bit of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Leroy almost objected to the change but a glare from both Emma and James shut him up.

Emma plopped down next to her son and James sat on the other side of him. The dwarves slowly sat on various surfaces in the room and the group watched the parade with fascination. Emma had never really allowed herself to watch the parade since Thanksgiving always just made her sad and the others had never really known about it. The little town was so secluded from the outside world. But Henry watched it every year. And this year, he couldn't wait to watch at least some of it with his birth mother.

"Isn't this great, Emma?" He asked, glancing at her with a grin.

Emma looked at her son, glanced around the room and her father and her parents' best friends. She heard laughter coming from the kitchen, her mother's laugh standing out above all. Even Regina's chuckle could be heard echoing through the room.

"Yeah, kid," she said, putting her arm around his shoulder and giving him a sideways hug. "This is perfect."

The End

Please review! If I get enough reviews for this, I may write a Christmas one. Not sure though. We'll see!


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